Many people think that vitamin like supplements won't pose any threat to health, just have them periodically. But fact is that we won't own a balance inside of bodies with deficiency of such substances, neither over amount. It's time to change the traditional thought people hold on supplements.

If you come up with a suggested match to your colony, I would be interested as we had one very similar a couple years ago at our community college (isolated from a backpack). We could not come up with a match. Thanks

If you come up with a suggested match to your colony, I would be interested as we had one very similar a couple years ago at our community college (isolated from a backpack). We could not come up with a match. Thanks

So the first microbe splits into two identical ones and that's still going on today but at a certain point a single mother splits into two and they become a boy and a girl. They are overwhelmingly attracted to each other and come together and give birth to a child, that's the initial plan anyway. Sex. Nothing like it. And great fun as well!

I wonder just exactly how small, or should I say how big the first guy was in terms of all existence, and how exactly did he make, or should I say she make her first move. I have a pretty good idea. Searching for a little love no doubt. Did anybody notice?

That's incredible. But the picture doesn't show the original bacteria amount as it was shot about a week latter. There may not be so much micros at the moment the child pressed his hand on the Petri dish.-BOC Sciences

That's incredible. But the picture doesn't show the original bacteria amount as it was shot about a week latter. There may not be so much micros at the moment the child pressed his hand on the Petri dish.-BOC Sciences (http://www.bocsci.com) providing screening libraries.

Thanks!
In a pinch when our autoclave is down I have boiled the media for about 15-20 min kind of like home canning....just be careful because it will boil over! If you have a bottle that will withstand the boiling then use that and sterilize the lid with bleach and let that dry. Once you have boiled the media put the lid on, loosely, and let it cool until you can hold it in you hand comfortably, then pour. Try to pour the plates in a room without and lot of airflow so you don't get to many contaminants. I must caution that once you grow anything on the plates to consider that plate a Biohazard and make sure it is disposed of properly. Contact your local College, Dr, Vet, Dentist, etc and see if they can dispose of it for you. And never open the plate once things have grown. Tape the lid shut so there are no accidents. You can also put it in a ziplock and zipper it shut.

Love this! For us trying to do this at home, is it necessary to use an autoclave to sterilize the TSA (240 deg F with pressurized steam)? Would a home oven at 240 deg F without the steam be sufficient?
Thanks for posting this. By the response you've had you can tell that lots of us think this is the coolest thing!

Tasha,
My name is Kristine Vester and I am an educator at the MathScience Innovation Center in Richmond, VA. We write different STEM lessons and presentations for the Central Richmond Area grades K-12. I would love to use your image in a couple of our activities, posting it online for teacher use.
Could I get your permission to post your picture online for our teachers to use?
Thanks so much.

It is very difficult (almost impossible) to determine the type of bacteria based on a picture, especially one this fuzzy. There are multiple tests that need to be done (such as gram+, gram-) to narrow down the types to figure out what species this would be.

DNA sequencing is a good approach, because it can detect and characterize the harmful bacteria. By inches, I know another sequencing called Human Whole Genome sequencing is also a kind of application on such item. If you want to know more about it, here is its website: http://www.cd-genomics.com/Human-Whole-Genome-Sequencing.html .Good luck!

Tasha: I am sorry to keep pestering you on this, but I guess I am real slow at how this works. I don't have access to a lab, so I would need to do anything at home.
I have three teenage daughters, whose hands are about 6 inches by 4 inches. Is there a plate that large that could be used? If so, can you please give me a LINK so that I can order them.
Do the plates come with the cultivating material already? If not, can you give me a link to the material I would need to buy? I got your cooking instructions, so am good to go once I have the plates and material. I hope.
Many thanks!!!
Brian

I'm working on a food safety video for students in the Kansas State University Department of Hospitality Management and Dietetics.
I would like permission to use your photo as a dramatic way to impress students going into the food service industry, the necessity of hand washing in all phases of food handling and meal preparation.
This is a non-commercial educational video. I'm happy to answer additional questions!
Ron Frank, Emeritus Professor, Kansas State University Department of Communications
rfrank@ksu.edu

Sarah, I just answered a min ago.....I have been getting blitzed by the media and have spent several hrs this morning answering questions or responding to emails. Believe it or not that is not a scope image rather taken with a macro lens.

bharat, the large colony on the lower right part of the plate looks like Streptomyces. They're commonly found in soil, and form large, irregular colonies with fungal-like mycelial growth patterns. They're also well-known for producing an array of antibiotics (hence the lack of other growth near that colony).
I used to take LB plates home for my daughter and she'd find all sorts of things (leaves, rocks, twigs) and make prints with them. TSA gives a much more colorful display! Very cool!

Hi! My name is Christine and I am with Newsy.com. We are thinking of working on a story about your son's handprint! Could we have permission to use this photo in our story? slusser@newsy.com. Thank you!

I remember years ago having a student with a child in kindergarten. Any time he was near campus, he would beg his father to take him to the microbiology laboratory, where he would beg me for a plate. He'd then touch the plate and take it home. Later, his father would bring it back to be autoclaved. Anyway, the kid just thought it was the coolest thing.
We microbiologists should appreciate the appeal that our discipline can have to young children. A director of a Montessori school that used to bring their children to my lab speculated that it may be microbes' relative invisibility and possible danger that makes them irresistible. Find a way to get little kids into the lab. You'll make their day, and they'll make yours.
(By the way, found this post as a link from Vox!)

I am saving the plate to show the micro students in 1 1/2 weeks. I did take a few close up photo's of some colonies which were also posted:
http://www.microbeworld.org/component/jlibrary/?view=article&id=13870
and
http://www.microbeworld.org/component/jlibrary/?view=article&id=13869
The big blob in the lower right is the image "unknown from handprint #2" and is most likely a Bacillus sp which is commonly found in dirt.....saw a fair # of what looks like Bacillus.
The other image is either a yeast or Bacillus as well.
We do this at the beginning of the semester and this is pretty common. The white being Staph and the colored colonies probably yeast. The colored colonies tend to show up after the plates are refrigerated or left at room temp for a few days. Once summer school starts I might do some G stains if I have time but micro is not the only class I tech and it looks to be a fairly busy summer.

Look at this site:
https://catalog.hardydiagnostics.com/cp_prod/Hardy_Part_Description.aspx
these are the sterile plates I used.
Tryptic Soy Agar (TSA) can be purchased through a number of companies (Fisher Scientific, Hardy Diagnostics, Neogen). Most sell it in the powdered form, add water, autoclave, cool to about 55 degrees then pour into the plate, cover with the lid then let solidify.
Once the plates are cool then place the hand on the plate making sure to gently pressing the fingers/palm to make contact with the agar.
Cover the plate with the lid and place in a 37 degree C incubator for 24-48 hrs......incubate agar side up. This will grow the normal flora on the hand like Staph., Micrococcus, etc.
Take the plate out and let it incubate/set out with the lid on at room temp (22 degrees C) for several days (3+ days). Normal flora will continue to grow (slowly) and yeast/fungi will start to grow....usually colored colonies (red/pink/yellow). It will also help bacteria like Serratia turn red.
Once grown the plate should be treated as a Biohaz and disposed of properly. The plate should not be opened if mold/fungi is present without proper respiratory protection.
Hope this helps.

OK, I am not familiar with this process, so let me clarify: You used a regular, sterilized (?) dinner plate, and poured the TSA material onto it, making a big petri dish? Where can I get the TSA liquid (?) to make one, and how do I culture the bacteria? Warm oven? Covered/uncovered? A step by step would be appreciated!
It makes for a wonderful piece of photographic/scientific art, and a great learning tool!!!

At risk of spinning out the fly trap discussion...
My experience--at least in southern England--is that there are two kinds of small fly in most houses--at least if they have any potted plants.
The commonest little flies (unless you have just been delivered some organic bananas) are the black, pointed-abdomened, sciarid flies, which are continuously hatching out from the soil of your potted plants. You will see little shiny silvery 'worms' if you look closely; and, if you've ever bought a home mushroom growing kit, you will already be plagued with them! (Well worth leaving a few 'daddy-long-legs' Pholcus, spiders, in the corners of your ceilings, to catch most of these.).
In my experience it is usually these sciarid flies that are magnetically attracted to wine and vinegar (also very usefully attracted to sunflower oil, which I paste onto polythene discs around my pot plants to catch them as they emerge.).
True fruit flies are fat bodied, and as their name--melanogaster--implies: brown.
I tried various mixtures of fermenting solutions to attract the Drosophila, but all were only partly successful. However, whenever I baked bread, these flies would rapidly appear and cover it while it was still warm. It is the yeast that attracts them.
I beat them by keeping a small vacuum cleaner in the kitchen. Despite their sluggish appearance, they are very good at avoiding a swat, but they are not very good at avoiding one of the narrow vacuum attachments for use for behind upholstery etc.
The flies would always come in with any organic fruit delivery, but, as I used to bake bread most days, I could quickly despatch them all: Which, I can assure you, is very satisfying! :-)

Yes, I just took a look and saw the comments. It does look different that what I saw in March. We have a lot of mushrooms out here on the west cost especially in the Redwoods. Some edible and some deadly so I would NEVER eat one unless I had an expert along. We do have a co called Monterey mushrooms, http://www.montereymushrooms.com/about-us/about-monterey-mushrooms/, and I bet if you sent them the photo they would be able to give you definate answer. Either way would not eat it.......

Saw something similar in March in Jamestown. Asked people in our dept and a fungal person suggested Silvershelf, or Chechen of the forest. I have an image but can not attach to the comment. WIll post the image in a few so you can compare.

Good Afternoon,
I am the Marketing Coordinator at ASM and we would like to use your photo for a contest flyer. I emailed you 4/20/2015. Would you send me a message at cgiles@asmusa.org
Thank you,
Kind regards,
Chaseedaw

Great episode TWiM crew! Regarding Michael's question about TbpA and chimps, we know that N. gonorrhoeae and H. influenzae are human-specific pathogens, so it's likely that TbpA in chimp-specific bacteria has adapted in order to deal with the transferrin mutation we mentioned. For example, we know that TbpA in pig pathogens doesn't recognize human transferrin (work by Tony Schryvers, Cynthia Cornelissen and others).
Keep on TWiMing!

Possible yeast......we have seen red, pink, yellow and white yeast on environmental plates. They have the morphology you are describing, round, smooth and mucoid. See the image I submitted yesterday. You can do a wet mount or another gram stain and look for possible budding although not all yeast show budding.....just a thought.

Thanks! Was very tempted to select some sort of power source, either phototroph or a deep sea thermal vent chemolithotroph, but clearly that's been done before, so decided to venture out.
I hope you and others will share your answers, it's definitely fun to think about.

What I find interesting is that while increasing sugar/fat intake increased the related microbe population, decreasing it had no effect on the related population. Even on a low fat/sugar diet the mice still gained weight.

You can't become overweight by magic; it can't just happen because of some hormonal imbalance unless you also supply the calories. Some people may have more difficulty losing weight, or may gain (slightly) more weight from the same calories, but being fat is, by and large (see what I did there?), the fault of the fat person.

The antibiotics are just pure human greed.
They stick it in animals to make them grow faster etc.
Also, there was a suggestion to put antibiotics into tap water by guess who? medical company (what a surprise!).

This Aspergillus grew after 3 day incubation on Sab Dextrose agar at 30 degrees C. Because of the huge club shaped vesicle (approximately 200 by 40 µm), I was able to capture it in a more natural state with a dissecting microscope at 50X magnification. A. clavatus usually causes allergic aspergillosis, but can be the cause of lung and nail infections.

Hi Bibha, great image. We (ASM) featured it as the pic of the day on our http://facebook.com/asmfan page today and people are loving it! They are also asking many questions. If you could go there, take a look and answer any of the questions that would be fantastic. Thanks again for the photo!

I have been culturing soil bacteria in an aerobic environment and started to find these appearing consistently. I believe these are actually actinobacteria that have somehow become coiled. What do people think?

The microbial drawing was made with overnight cultures of Candida albicans SC5314 and Pseudomonas aeruginosa PA14. Cells were streaked with an inoculation loop on a YPD plate and incubated for 48 hrs at 37 °C. The arrow and the letters were made with P. aeruginosa; C. albicans cells are forming the heart. The green color is due to the production of phenazinas by P. aeruginosa.

Hi!
Nice pictures! I saw you on Instagram! I would like to take pictures of my colonies forming as you did. But I don't manage to do it right with a regular camera. Do you have any digital apparatus to advise me please?
Thanks,
Caroline

I was listening to this podcast (I like the new guy) when suddenly it popped into my head:
"Helminths: They Need To Feed" Summer 2016
Now I just have to whip up a movie poster and sell it to Hollywood for mega $$$
Cheers

Also, this story was actually inspired by our board game Microvores. It is currently on kickstarter, please check it out and help support us bringing fun and educational Microbial themed board games to the table.
Thank you,
www.kickstarter.microvores.com

If anyone has any suggestions, there will be a sequel coming out around January or Feb 2015. Feel free to make suggestions about types of Microbes you would like to see included in the story, or certain types of adaptations or organelles that get discussed or used in the story.

At this point in time we haven't even established what an ideal microbiome looks like, or whether there is an ideal one in the first place. The overall diversity is only one component of the microbial community. Although we know that decreased microbial diversity is associated with certain diseases in humans, it is a bit of a stretch to conclude that apes have "apes have better gut bugs than humans" due to increased microbial diversity. Increased diversity may have decreasing benefits past a certain point. I don't see how you can conclude that apes have a better microbial community. Rather, this just shows that it is different.

Maybe we need to rethink the role of viruses. Maybe all viruses are part of our immune system. Maybe viruses are trying to heal the damage of other cofactors and are not the actual cause of the illness. Consider how it has been described that sperm acts a like a virus. What if the virus works like sperm to give birth to new cells to replace old cells when there is severve damage to a cell. Consider the possibilities of being able to heal somebody with a so called viral disease if you're not trying to destroy the virus but trying to resolve the other cofactors that are causing the illness. I am interested in researching this theory further to see if it has any merit. Does anyone else have any thoughts on this theory of viruses being part of our immune systen?

Hi Josue,
I am also a microbiological quality control staff. But I don't have a lot of experience in this field. Therefore, I am still learning more. Is it okey if you teach me some knowledge?
I very appreciate your help!
Thanks so much in advance.
^.^

Hi Josue,
I am also a microbiological quality control staff. But I don't have a lot of experience in this field. Therefore, I am still learning more. Is it okey if you teach me some knowledge?
I very appreciate your help!
Thanks so much in advance.
^.^

Hi Josue,
I am also a microbiological quality control staff. But I don't have a lot of experience in this field. Therefore, I am still learning more. Is it okey if you teach me some knowledge?
I very appreciate your help!
Thanks so much in advance.
^.^

So often news surrounding microbiology is of a warning nature- bacteria getting stronger, viruses getting out of control, and controversy over vaccinations. It is refreshing to read an article that wields the science behind microbiology into a positive and innovative solution to a current concern of depleting natural resources. What’s more-is that the source for this alternative energy propane is coming directly from humans. I believe harvesting would be difficult, but if devices were made that could portably harvest propane from humans, the possibilities would be exponential. Just as the influence of vaccine development reshaped how we see disease and health, this is a real application of microbiology that could impact every individual, contributing to a healthy global environment.

Yes, please redo the gram stain.
If you'd like do a wet mount with a cover slip of the microorganism and watch it and determine if it is a rod or cocci.
Continue with the gram stain to see if it is gram positive or gram negative.
You can continue the identification from then on.
Good luck!

Hi, it looks to me either not enough bacteria on the slide or maybe the slide was flamed too much.
I would recommend if you're performing a gram stain to place the smallest amount of water as a tiny drop on the slide. Then grab a colony and smear it on there and let it dry for a bit before flaming it. Also have positive controls on the same slide as in E. Coli and Staphylococcus to compare the morphology.
In the end the slide would have staph, unknown in the middle and E. coli at the end of the slide.
Also see if you microscope can do a oil immersion too.

Biology is the study of life,the living forms on the planet earth.In the course of time,with advancement of technology ad unveiling the literature several applied branches are known to us today.One important applied subject of biology is Microbiology.
Microbiology is the study of Microorganisms.It is an age old subject and a lot is been said and done.The tiny microorganisms visible only under a microscope are the major contributors in our day to day life.They holds a vital position in betterment of environment,raising a country's economy and healthy well being.

If benefit of the standard dose is minimal, near 0, then 7 times 0 is near 0 too.
The BMJ meta-study showed problematic side-effects and a small gain for Tamiflu.
Here no side-effects, large gain? Small study, big conclusions?
Disclosure: Kumar has a research relationship with Roche Pharmaceuticals.
http://www.healio.com/infectious-disease/eacs-2013-resource-center/idn0913kumar_10_3928_1081_597x_20130901_12_1310881
Given two experimental timelines, if you can choose the moment of comparison later at will, there is great chance that there is a cutoff (here after 5 days) when one of the experiments is much better than the other. That would be bad statistics.

Fascinating and yet really, not surprising. The more that humans alter the natural order of nature (is that redundant?), the more you can expect to see disharmony. I don't want to sound all new-agey - I'm not. It's just simple logic.
Kind of like putting bighorn sheep in the mountains and then killing the mountain lions who (naturally) see them as lunch, and eat them.
Well, maybe not, but you get my drift...

Dear Vincent, Elio, and Michael:
It's good to hear you all together---truly a type of "quorum sensing" phenomenon of Overwhelming Microbial Goodness ("OMG"), which I have come to expect from TWiM. As always, a wonderful and informative show.
Elio was kind enough to mention my "microbiology" inspired buttons. I make the buttons and T-shirts for my microbiology classes each year, as part of my propaganda program to promote Microbial Supremacy. Anyway, Elio likes a old one from years ago. Here is what he was discussing:
http://www.cafepress.com/microbesrule/7034973
I am reminded of Thomas Miller's great maxim: "All organisms are nothing but a bag of other organisms walking around."
Organelles are just the evolutionary end product of lazy microbes, perhaps!
Dr. Miller, by the way, studies using bacterial symbionts of insects as a form of pest control---something called paratransgenic control. A similar approach is being used to reduce dengue fever transmission by mosquitoes. So the study of unusual symbionts of aphids could be useful in unexpected ways.
Thanks again for your great show.
Best wishes, and I hope to see you at ASM in Boston.
-Mark Martin

Thank you for the great podcast! You've explained our story very well and it was funny to listen to it. I didn't know that "Speak friend and enter" is from lord of the rings!
I just wanted to explain the name CYCLOPS because this was a question mark in the podcast.
This is a link to Yano et al. 2008 where they describe the cyclops mutant phenotype in fig. 1.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2629324/
In the WT the fluorescently labeled rhizobia enter the root by the formation of an infection thread. In the cyclops mutant, the root hair curls around the bacteria but further infection is impaired. And because this looks like an eye of an cyclops, the mutant derived its name from :-)

Great question, the short answer is worms live in the soil and soil can get warm... the worms lay eggs, the larvae hatch and move... they will seek conditions favorable for their survival. Aside from the CDC you may wish to consult the following website as they have more on this disease, complete with maps about the global soil distribution of this nematode (worm). http://www.infectionlandscapes.org/2012/03/strongyloidiasis.html

Thank you for your comment and Im hoping I can get just one more opinion from you if it's not too much trouble.Are theses horrible little things able to survive in a boarding kennel type environment given the right conditions? Say mid-summer, 85+degrees, no windows/ventilation, backed up open drainage system, etc? Just curious.

Bacterial infections are contagious and most dangerous they spread from skin to skin contact. For treating such infections, options are very few. The stuff you have shared is amazing and thanks to you as some of my doubts get cleared.

Your poor dog, for those of you unfamiliar with this beast, its a worm or more precisely approximately 40 different types of worms or nematodes that can infect a wide range of animals, including humans. It is principally transmitted through dirt as the free living larvae contact the skin, they penetrate and move their way through the animal. This parasite was first described by the French in the 19th century who were stationed in colonial Vietnam who were suffering from severe, persistent diarrhea. However, the principal presentation in people, is a localized pruritic (itching) red (erythematous) rash at the site of penetration by the worm. Some may develop a dry cough (tracheal irritation) as the wee beasties (larvae) migrate from lung up the throat where they are then swallowed resulting in what the French saw in colonial Vietnam (severe and persistent diarrhea). Good news today, for humans, we often don't know we are infected and thus have no symptoms, however, like the colonial French, some humans can become critically ill. The CDC (http://www.cdc.gov/parasites/strongyloides/) has great set of pictures with treatment options for people, with Ivermectin (200µg/kg (1-2 days) being the first line drug for both the acute and chronic forms of the disease. Your dog probably picked it up while being a dog. Playing and rolling in the dirt or burying bones is a prime risk factor of acquisition of the parasite. As to why after treatment no improvement? There is always the demon of resistance to drug, hypersensitivity to debris left by the dead parasite subsequent to treatment or even potentially re-infection. Your vet will be able to address such issues. Humans can protect themselves from infection by simply wearing shoes while interacting with potentially infested soils, as the worm is after all one of the unseen forms of life on our planet. Via Michael Schmidt, Ph.D.

After reading this article, I think it is wonderful that we are able to develop a hand held device to detect such a deadly disease in people within just a few minutes. This could save many lives if these people are treated early on. Perhaps people will become proactive and advocate having these tests made readily available in all countries not just the countries that we are seeing an increase in TB cases.
Although, it is a wonderful advancement in technology, I have to wonder if it a matter of time before TB becomes drug resistant to the current antibiotics available today. With many diseases becoming drug resistant to currently used medications, we may end up seeing a rise in TB cases again.

Tarwin Stroh-Spijer: "Talking of melanin as being a left over from a time when there was more radiation seems weird to me. It protects us from UV radiation in our skin too!"
— Precisely, UV radiation reaching the Earth surface used to be much stronger when the O2 concentration in the atmosphere was lower and the ozone layer, thinner or non-existant.

80 grams is 2.8 ounces, not 3 pounds. Below 0.2 pounds. Still quite a bit of mushroom but not insane.
Talking of melanin as being a left over from a time when there was more radiation seems weird to me. It protects us from UV radiation in our skin too!

Samantha you are correct. I think the original author should have referenced a "bacterial lipopolysaccharide" not "an oral bacterium called lipopolysaccharide." The actual bacterium is Porphyromonas gingivalis as you pointed out. Thank you.

The oral bacterium is not called lipopolysaccharide. Later in the article, it is explained that the lipopolysaccharide is a component of Porphyromonas gingivalis, an oral bacterium. I just wanted to clarify that point for others that come to read the story.

Hi I'm doing a negative staining for human cytomegalovirus. As you know negative staining will not let me see much details of inside the particles. I would like to see the capsids, tegument, and envelop, as distinct as your image show here. What staining did you/author perform? May I know the protocols of how you stain the viral particles please? I couldn't find any source of references and literatures from here. I appreciate your help.

Now that both Exophiala dermatitidis and E. phaeomuriformis has been confirmed to be opportunistic pathogens capable of causing dangerous infection in humans; effort should be geared towards eliminating them in dishwashers. This can be achieved by the development and use of chemotherapeutic agents that are particularly toxic to these pathogens. These chemotherapeutic agents can be included in formulations or as constituents of soap or detergents used in dishwashers and other washing machines likely prone to harbouring these pathogens.

This headline is terribly misleading; in fact it is completely wrong and I predicted such headlines would issue when I first saw the letter about gain of function research.
The investigators are not at all trying to create a deadly version of H7N9 virus; they are trying to give the virus new properties so they can understand what changes might alter the virus to make it evade immunity, antiviral drugs, and so on.
For more information see: http://www.virology.ws/2013/08/07/virologists-plan-influenza-h7n9-gain-of-function-experiments/

yes.thank you
but
you know that antibiotic identification as a novel compound is a long process more than 10 year!
isolation actinomycetes from marine sediment usually accompany novel compound.
all antibiotic test show that we have a new source of antibiotic compound!
isolation novel antibiotic from terrestrial actinomycetes decreases!
we are searching more on project and hope to this issue!

Sorry but, there is absolutely no evidence or data or explanation at this source that indicates "that the marine actinomycetes collected from the sediments of Caspian Sea might be a potent source of novel antibiotics." This looks like an improperly-labeled disc sensitivity plate test from a Microbiology 101 lab. I wonder if the author or editors care to comment on what I might be missing.

synergism in bacteriology itțs like lotery you will never know
You may tray all of antibiottics catrige that you got in your lab , this is the best solution for you, if you are duing reasearch job.
my opinion.

This pictured organism is like CLOSTRIDIUM SPORES seems to be C.PERFIRINGENS. They are gram Positive Non-motile and capsulated, in smears from tissue. The organisms appear as thick Brick -shaped rods. spores are rarely seen.

It would be interesting to know their task in life, their life span, reproduction methods and latest research - I must introduce myself-my name is. Derek-I have just purchased my first microscope and was amazed at the detail of a shaving of pine wood- I live in the uk and for 77 years have always had an enquiring mind-the microscope has set it alight !
Nice to be aboard-respectfully powerfulheart(derek)

Hi again. I really like this podcast. I just came home from Thailand with a stomach bug that everyone around me (none of which are trained medical professionals of course) believes is giardia, so of course I listened to that episode first.
Anyway, as awesome and inclusive as this episode was in terms of defining and classifying parasites no plant parasites were mentioned! Of course I know that this is primarily a medical podcast, but it would've been neat to hear a sentence or 2 about the fact that plants can also act as parasites (e.g. the hemiparasitic genus Pedicularis). I'm grateful for this free entry into the world of parasites, thanks so much.

Hi,
I am an MBBS doctor from India,new to this site.
I was wondering if the product is available for marketing in India?
I am a technical consultant for small and medium business companies.Let me know if there is any potential business offer exclusive to India.
my address is
satishkumar_kanumuri@yahoo.com

Hi,
I am an MBBS doctor from India,new to this site.
I was wondering if the product is available for marketing in India?
I am a technical consultant for small and medium business companies.Let me know if there is any potential business offer exclusive to India.
my address is
satishkumar_kanumuri@yahoo.com

In this "source" (http://www.whoi.edu/page.do?pid=7545&tid=3622&cid=164869). The statement “The only therapy for Lyme Disease right now are antibiotics like penicillin” is incorrect, or at least needs clarification. Doxycycline is frequently used in treatment of Lyme disease, as well as for prophylaxis against Lyme after the bite of a deer tick in humans and dogs. CDC states "Antibiotics commonly used for oral treatment include doxycycline, amoxicillin, or cefuroxime axetil. Patients with certain neurological or cardiac forms of illness may require intravenous treatment with drugs such as ceftriaxone or penicillin." (http://www.cdc.gov/lyme/Treatment/)

Thank you for this video MicroMinutes. I acually went and checked out some of your others on YouTube. BTW, in the future if you use the full YouTube URL (instead of the shortened one) your video will automatically embed on MicrobeWorld.

"The backstory: The man was three weeks into a road trip and could have passed this fast-acting, apparently lethal bug on to any number of people."
Exactly how do you suppose that the anthrax bacteria would be transmitted to any number of people? Quit scaring folks.
"There is no evidence of person-to-person transmission of anthrax. Quarantine of affected individuals is not recommended."
http://textbookofbacteriology.net/Anthrax_5.html

Wow good find. I would have missed this paper. I have always enjoyed reading about virus 'swarms', or how divergent genotypes emerge from, presumably a single genotype. Plant virologists are way ahead of animal virologists in this field, and would be interesting to see them compared. Anyways, cool find, and check out my related post about influenza swarms!

Dutch researchers did *not* create 'an even more deadly strain of the virus in a laboratory'. They produced a strain of the H5N1 virus that transmits in the air among ferrets. This virus is much *less* deadly than the parental virus.
Furthermore, Lipsitch is completely wrong in stating that 'If you make a strain that’s highly transmissible between humans, as the Dutch team did....." The Dutch team did *not* make a strain that can be transmitted among humans.
Why is the H5N1 story filled with incorrect statements and wrong assumptions? It is our job as microbiologists to inform the public of what actually happened, and articles such as this one do a distinct disservice.

This is very interesting to me because we have been battling my daughter's eczema since she was born. However, I'm not sure what to make of this article. I would think having a more diverse microbiome in the gut would be a good thing but it apparently is a large factor in infants having eczema. It's hard to tell if this article is saying this is bad (especially since they label no eczema children as "healthy") or this is just a fact and that it's not good or bad. Interesting stuff. Also seems to imply that diet could be used to affect change in their gut bacteria. Look forward to hearing more.

I love to read this kind of article regarding health issues. I would like to know what the difference between human is and animals when they are in state of disease. Some say that in social media agency has an information about the common diseases with humans and animals through social media marketing on the internet.

The biological world lost one of its greatest thinkers on 30 December 2012. In comparing the work of Woese to the other greats, think of the contributions that Einstein, Curie, Bohr, Tesla and yes, even Darwin have made to our understanding. To hear Woese talk of his discovery check out the video on Microbeworld Video entitled Solving the Puzzle. It will be 18 minutes well spent. , https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/microbeworld-video/id120703592?mt=2

Dear Michael:
You are absolutely right.
I linked to "Solving the Puzzle" in my post; thanks for the iTunes link.
The world is smaller and less interesting without Carl Woese.
Appreciate the comment.
-MM

The biological world lost one of its greatest thinkers on 30 December 2012. In comparing the work of Woese to the other greats, think of the contributions that Einstein, Curie, Bohr, Tesla and yes, even Darwin have made to our understanding. To hear Woese talk of his discovery check out the video on Microbeworld Video entitled Solving the Puzzle. It will be 18 minutes wells spent. https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/microbeworld-video/id120703592?mt=2

hello, I apologize for responding so late, just heard the show today. With Copper being a rather expen$ive commodity, I'm sure many facilities would find it hard to replace a lot of the stainless steel surfaces in hospitals. Did the scientist conducting these experiments consider collaborations with or consult metallurgist, to maybe test or determine a significant amount of copper in a sort of conglomerate metal?

OUR GROUP OF MICROBIOLOGIST ARE WORKING WITH THE NUMEROUS STRAINS OF PROBIOTICS PRODUCING BACTERIA, WE HAVE FOUND THE FOLLOWING PROPERTIES OF THESE TINY ORGANISMS LIKE
ANTIBACTERIAL
ANTICARCINOGENIC,
IMMUNOMODULATORS
ANTILIPID,ANTICHOLESTEROL
ANTIARTHRITOGENIC
ANTIOXIDANT
ANTIINFERTILITY
AND MANY OTHERS
WE ARE PLANING TO MOVE FOR ANTIVIRAL, ANT UTI EFFECT VERY SOON
DR VINOD SINGH
ASSO PROF AND HEAD
DEPT OF MICROBIOLOGY
BARKATULLAH UNIVERSITY
BHOPAL
INDIA

Have we gone too far with disinfecting, sanitizing and sterilizing? I grew up in the 70's-80's and we cleaned with oldfashioned soap and water. There were no handsoaps or gels to cleanse our hands. And, I was a healthy child and did not have any childhood diseases except chicken pox which then, was a right of passage in childhood.
I have a neighbor who thinks she can disinfect her house by scrubbing with bleach and other disinfectants. I've tried to explain the "good vs bad' bacteria and the fact that it is actually detrimental to the 'good' bacteria to blindly disinfect.
Yes, we definitely need to disinfect in the obvious places such as hospitals and laboratories. But, in our homes, do we really need to wage the war that could end up hurting everyone?

Very interesting article!
We know that gut feelings hold information about the impact of our life upon us and they are the key to our feeling memories and patterns of intuitive experiences. Gut feelings reveal our unconscious information and often this information comes to our awareness before our conscious information. That is why a painting we create today may hold clues to what we will consciously learn about ourselves in the future and the bases for exploring art as therapy. It stands to reason that physicians would become aware of their unconscious accumulated information from past cases through their gut feelings long before the actually data for a conscious diagnosis.
You may like to visit http://careerstorefront.angelfire.com to find out more about this book and the research behind it. To read an excerpt join us at: http://instinctualgutfeelings.blogspot.com

I was with the Canadian Forces in 2009, was ordered to get the H1N1 shot (AREPANRIX by GSK GlaxoSmithKline) and had an adverse reaction to the vaccine. I received PERMANENT neurological, cardiovascular, gastrointestinal, and respiratory symptoms: dizziness, vertigo, irregular heart rhythms, shortness of breath, muscle weakness and pain, and numbness in hands and feet. My physical fitness changed from special forces fit to that of a 70 year old in a matter of days. Be informed and please choose wisely if you do plan to have your next flu shot or vaccination.

There is an inaccurate statement in this article.
The authors did not say there is no evidence of an infectious cause in ME/CFS, only that XMRV and pMLV do not cause it.
In a Twiv podcast with Dr. Vincent Racaniello, Dr. Lipkin stated that many patients in previous studies have shown polyclonal B-cell activation and that research into the microbiome and biomarkers continues including work at the CII.
He stated that the bulk of the funds invested in the study went toward patient selection (specific case definitions (there are many), psychiatric disorders causing fatigue were excluded, patients had an infectious trigger etc,) and sample collection. This leaves sufficient samples for nearly fifty more studies is this rigorously defined population according to Lipkin.
The full podcast is available on iTunes or on Dr. Racaniello's blog.

Hi Jim, the Bambuser test screen is just the embed of the live stream player from Bambuser.com. The counter is actually the current time. When we go live from ICAAC the test screen will disappear and be replaced by video from the event.

I can't believe anyone would rate this performance other than 5 stars. Whether or not you like the music, you have to give 8 scientists a lot of credit for getting up in front of a crowd and performing - not giving a talk but playing music.

Thank you for you post on conjugative transposons! Conjugative transposons are certainly fascinating driving forces of microbial evolution. However, I think that too often the public is bombarded with information about how microbes, especially those containing antibiotic resistant traits, are evolving to harm us rather than help us, when in reality, trillions of bacteria on and within us are working to keep us alive. One example of this specifically is the gut bacteria that help us degrade the complex carbohydrates we consume. Right now, I am looking at how new polysaccharides in our diet are challenging our gut bacteria to evolve and degrade these new substrates. In fact, many carbohydrate utilization loci within the genomes of these bacteria are located on conjugative transposons and seem to have acquired their polysaccharide utilization loci via lateral gene transfer.

It would be interesting to hear a discussion on "Today in Microbiology" about how three different pathogens--Dengue, EV71, and Streptococcus suis--all played roles in the recent illness affecting children in Cambodia, especially as more information about what happened there becomes available.

This was a wonderful episode!
Emilio's background information about E. hux and diatoms etc was vital to my understanding of the episode, and not only that, I was filled with wonder and amazement at the thought that blooms of these tiny creatures are visible from space. And that they can affect climate! Thank you for blowing my mind today!

Whoa! Good find. Reminds us how intimate these parasitic interactions are. In the nudibranch Elysia viridis there are genes transferred from an algae into its genome so that it can utilize photosynthesis upon engulfing the algae. It is speculated that these genes enable this unbelievable adaptation to occur. Perhaps in this case, the transferred genes enable some of the parasitic relationships to evolve? Very cool!

Yes, more micro is a good thing! I recently took micro as a prereq. for nursing only to find I have a passion for microbes. I am now going to pursue a Ph.D. in Cell & Molecular Biology . I am currently starting my second semester in undergrad research in food microbiology. I will be writing my first scientific paper and preparing a poster for INBRE this Fall! All because I was exposed to micro early in my curriculum.

There is no problem if the yoghurt starter culture outlive the discoverer.The important thing is that the desireable characteristics (such as flavour,colour ,taste) inherent in the starter culture is continuously maintained or possibly improved. This can possibly guarantee increased demand for the yoghurt.

This is a follow up for Alberto. Unfortunately our partners who created the app tell us that while they "know it is frustrating for international users there isn't much they can do about it right now." I'll keep you posted if anything changes in the near future.

It's not central to the podcast, but the cornea is much much thicker than just 2 cells.
The cornea's thickness is around 570 μm, the epithelial layer on the surface is about 50μm (7+ cell layers). If I remember correctly it is the layer of collagen under the epithelial layer that when damaged causes a lot of the neovascularization and scarring associated with infections and mechanical damage, but that's remembering a primer from quite a long time ago.

Kevin, that's so great you found a passion for micro. I recently discovered my passion for micro too. Last semester I took Microbiology as a prereq for nursing school and a whole new world has opened up to me. I'm still going to complete nursing school but when I'm done I am going to take the life science and physical sciences I need as an undergrad before I apply to Grad school. I am interested in the U of Arkansas and plan to pursue a PhD in Cell & Molecular Biology. Right now I have the privilege to be working on undergrad research in food microbiology and I just love it! Thus far in my studies, I am most interested in pathogenesis and immunology.
Best of luck in your studies!
Kelly

I've enjoy listening to your your TWIP podcast. You are a wonderful story teller and though I have worked in this field a bit as well, I never fail to learn something. I listen in the car on Sticher. My kids think I'm weird but they like it too.
In the episode today (1MAR12) on dracunculosis, you made the natural connection that we come across cylops both in the Malaria and the Guinea Worm programs, but in the Podcast you said a couple times that mosquito larvae eat the cyclops and I think you probably meant the converse.
We add cyclops to family water jars in Cambodia, to eat the mosquito larvae.
Anyway keep up the great work. You strike a nice balance of making the field more approachable, while keeping it interesting enough even for the grouches.
Best regards,
Allan
Allan Robbins, DIH, MPH

Thanks for the great episode..
I just want to sat that IgA molecule could not activate the complement system (in contrast to IgM and IgG) hence the complement system does not work efficiently in the lumen of the gut although there is little secretory IgM and IgG.

David,
Thanks for the comment. I didn't find anything related to research done on turning local wetlands into sources for fuel cell technology but it's an interesting concept.
I did come across this news story from March 2010 where residents express concern for what they view as a possible danger of fuel cell technology: http://fuelcellsworks.com/news/2010/03/21/trumbull-residents-seek-siting-council-changes-from-a-planned-fuel-cell-facility/
It seems more like a NIMBY situation than an actual hazard.
Thanks again and I'll keep my eyes peeled for more stories like these.
We're certainly going to need all the help we can get when it comes to powering the planet cleanly. Fortunately I think microbes have amazing potential to help us out.

Garth, the H5N1 fatality rate is *not* 60% as you cite above. There is serological evidence that many individuals are infected with mild or no symptoms, which would bring the fatality rate below 1%. Please see http://www.virology.ws/2012/01/25/h5n1-facts-not-fear/ for more information on this. We need to stop citing this incorrect rate as it is driving the controversy over publication of H5N1 results.

Has anyone looked into developing fuel cells in wetland environments, i.e. swamps? I live in NWPA and we have lots of natural wetlands in this region. It would be interesting to think we might be able to develop a power source in our own backyards.

Jim things have moved on considerably since the documentary was made. The science is still evolving to support the views of ILADS and contradict the narrow views of the IDSA which currently dictates treatment World wide.
Last year the institute of Medicine held a Workshop still available on their website, about Lyme disease and other tick borne illnesses- they found significant gaps remain in the science, so far too soon to be dictating restricted guidelines as per iDSA.
Possibly the most significant research was that by Embers, Barthold et al
http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0029914
Persistence of Borrelia burgdorferi in Rhesus Macaques following Antibiotic Treatment of Disseminated Infection
Don't remember seeing this much on the internet yet although it was published 11th January 2012

As a early adulthood I had a problem with Ge rd or Acid Re flux. Can the acids in our stomach's in high concentration kill of this Rota virus. Or the medications that control these condition, help kill this virus, before it gets out of hand to cause the diarrhea and vomiting. Or a daily regimen Vitamin C and sorts keep the rota virus away.

No wonder - the majority of guys do not wash their hands (properly) after using the toilet
(ASM News, October 2002, p.477) and the comments by F.D.A. Rosenberg (ASM News, January 2003, p. 1), V. G. Wilson (ASM News, April, 2003, p. 162), and F. A. Rosenberg (ASM News, July 2003, p. 319).
And then pathogens are also found in soap dispensers (Microbe Volume 2, Number 8, 2007 p. 375)

This an amazing discovery about E.coli. It also shows that the potentials of this minute creature are numerous and are yet to be fully tapped. Moreover, it shows that E.coli once believed to have only negative economic importance can also have positive economic importance. More research efforts will definitely confirm this.

I don't think you are supposed to cut and paste the entire article even if it is yours. If it is used with permission, I think that should be noted. This article looks like it was credited to Kathleen Phillips @ Texas A&M. I would hate my writings to not be credited.

Tim So much is known about Borrelia but ignored lectures by Microbiologist Tom Grier can be found on my blog but too long to post here. He explains reasons why Microbiologists are not finding Borrelia by modern techniques and also talks about work done by Miklossy and Paschner finding Lyme on the brain (part 4 of his lectures) In Paschner's mouse model 20 years ago the strain injected in the tail of the mouse had morphed within 4 weeks and was different from what was harvested from the brain of the mouse.

I do not minimize the importance of hand washing. However, I think, by inference, this means that common (public) use computer keyboards and telephones might be close to 100 percent.....as well as the hands of hand-shaking, baby-holding politicians, and high-fiving athletes. I get it that (at least, in water microbiology) where E. coli is found, so might be Salmonella, Campylobacter, norvirus, etc. but what's happened to the concepts of infectious dose and the hygiene hypothesis?

A recent shock of cantaloupes tainted with listeria is just the latest event of impure food reaching consumers . Even more unsettling is the tiny fraction of imported food that really makes it to assessment by the FDA. With the rise of globalization, more and more imported food is making it to the nation's shores. Federal sources are vastly insufficient to deal with the need. Same topic is Only a part of imported foods is inspected by FDA

I think the issue is that if you fact check with the author of the study you are writing about you risk getting a biased assessment. However, this doesn't mean you shouldn't fact check it with an independent source.

I think it's a great idea to check facts in science-related stories; I cannot understand why the writers are so opposed to this practice. I checked Rebecca Skloot's 'Immortal Life' in this way and I am sure she is grateful. I've also done it for Trine, as we reveal in TWiV 149.

The original article,
Suzuki M, Yamada K, Nagao M, Aoki E, Matsumoto M, Hirayama T, et al. Antimicrobial ointments and methicillin-­resistant Staphylococcus aureus USA300. Emerg Infect Dis. 2011 Oct; [Epub ahead of print]
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3201/eid1710.101365
makes no mention of flesh-eating bacteria or necrotizing fasciitis. The sensational title was apparently a remake by MSNBC, or conceived by author J. Brownstein (My Health News Daily). cited here as the "source". Although MRSA is associated with necrotizing fasciitis, and antibiotic resistance may well-contribute to its incidence, the term "flesh-eating bacteria" implying necrotizing fasciitis, refers more specifically to Group A Streptococcus (Streptococcus pyogenes). Also, all references beg the point, when should you use (or not use) triple antibiotic on a wound?

Hi Mohammad, Yes, that is a perfect use of this image since the author licensed it under Creative Commons - Attribution + Noncommercial see http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/. At MicrobeWorld we encourage people to license their content in this manner so it can be used for educational purposes without all the bureaucracy that often goes with seeking permissions.

Campylobacter jejuni is one of the most popular and notorious pathogens causing food borne diseases not only in the United States but also in other countries across the world. This scanning electron microscope image is showing a very good structure of the microbe.

Regarding Garth Hogan's submission, "Study finds bacteria from dog feces in winter sky above Detroit", the article I am referred to with the same title is published in the Miami Herald posted online Aug 19, 2011. The Herald in turn cites publication in "Applied and Environmental Biology", which does not exist. The actual study, as found in AEM, is entitled "Sources of bacteria in outdoor air across cities in the midwestern United States" and it is published online ahead of print on July 29, 2011 (Appl. Environon. Microbiol. doi:10.1128/AEM.05498-11). The Herald states that Detroit samples were taken at 12 feet above ground, a long way from the "winter sky above Detroit", although the authors state that Detroit samples were taken at ~1.5 meters (about 5 feet), an even longer stretch to the winter sky.

The visual aspect is good at getting its point across in terms of number of deaths caused by each disease, but it incorrectly suggests a viral cause for all the diseases listed. In particular, the right-hand panel of honorable mentions states "Although the following viruses do not have a figure for total amount of lives claimed, they continue to terrorize various areas around the world. " It then lists Malaria (caused by a parasite), Tuberculosis (caused by a bacterium) and Yellow Fever (this one is actually caused by a virus). I would love to see an updated version made that correctly attributes the causative agents of each disease.

Lots of mosquito killer products have manufactured. While there are soe electric devices being used. Whatever you use to kill these dangerous insects, yet one thing is for sure, mosquitoes virus can lead to death. Denizens of large United States cities face a scourge called the Asian Tiger mosquito. The Wall Street Journal reports that species Aedes albopictus, which is recognized for its black-and-white striped physique, is as new to the U.S. as is it is “vicious” and hard to kill. Unlike most mosquitoes, the Asian Tiger attacks during the daytime. It also can spread dengue fever. Here is the proof: Urban bloodletting: Beware the Asian Tiger mosquito.

Check out older antibiotics against Neisseria gonorrhoeae.
There are many with activity formerly -- and today? Have all these drugs been tested in the antibiogram ? Over 400 tests are saved in AmicBase against this organism: http://www.manetec-52.de
Best regards
Alexander Pauli

I will clear this up for everyone. This 1% issue, first of all is a theory. And it is 1% of people in the world. The theory is based off of people several 100 years ago who developed immunity to smallpox, but this has been happening all over the world for millions of years whenever there is a plague. A small amount of people survive. There is another theory that states that humans will evolve. therefore 1% of the human population more than likely have immunity to HIV or we could all become extinct. Since this has never happened in the history of mankind this THEORY proves true, but there is not a real way of proving it. Now that we have this case this theory proves to be even stronger. Where yahoo messed up in this article is by stating it was 1% of Caucasians that have immunity. Instead they should have done some good journalism and researched the facts

One does not have to be a rocket scientist to understand that resistance is the logical result of all the chemicals being used.
At Soper Strategies we have understood this unfortunate dilemma when working with pesticides. That is also the reason that our strategies are aimed at green, permanent, integrated and uncompromised solutions. With the emphasis on green..
The WHO has been aiming their programs too much on involvement of communities, instead of leaving the responsibilities for mosquito-borne disease combat with local authorities. Add to this the extensive use of pesticides and one knows why we are dealing with increasinging problems.
With all the modern technologies that we have available today, eradication of mosquitoes and the close-up monitoring of re-emergence, are easier then ever before.
The problem should be tackled at the source and not be aimed at prevention of the problem (bednets).

Indeed, the empowerment of the internet for scientists is quite well known - it allows us to reach many more people than we ever have in our careers. Many scientists are blogging and podcasting and reaching new audiences, which appreciate the direct contact. This is why we just passed one million downloads on TWiV. It would be useful to emphasize such success stories as examples of what scientists can be doing.

A very informative piece about E.coli 0157:H7 . The lethal tendencies of this microbe should be curbed or stopped immediately.Required and appropriate antibiotics should be synthesized or produced by researchers.This becomes imperative so as to avoid a pandemic of a monumental proportion globally.

Now that it has been proven that XMRV is not the virus responsible for chronic fatigue,researchers will have to intensify their effort at discovering the actual cause of chronic fatigue.We cannot afford to be mislead anymore.

Many other viruses and bacteria have been implicated in Parkinson's disease There are listed at Link Text. Interestingly interferon gamma, a cytokine induced by many infections also kills substantia nigra neurones Link Text suggesting a common means whereby many infections could target these dopamine neurones, whose destruction leads to Parkinson's disease. These pathogens are common and of course do not produce Parkinson's disease in all cases of infection - Suseceptibility genes, which are often related to the immune system and to pathogen entry and defence pathways likely play a role in conditioning their effects.

@Felix - Okay, a new version has been uploaded to our content delivery network. I tested it out in iTunes and it works for me (so did the last one BTW). Please let me know if you have any issues with it. Also, you should unsubscribe to TWiP and then re-subscribe to download the new version.

Thanks Garth. You should go to the link on the note (not obvious that there would be anything there, but there is a whole blog post about this issue). I started looking around and discovered the ASM award. I then compiled a list of all the awardees including links to their articles when possible.

Examining enterococcal isolates at the species level using new rapid surveillance methods is commendable. However,their resistance to many and sometimes all standard therapies is of serious concern. Therefore,serious effort should be made by researchers to tackle this issue of enterococcal resistance globally. This becomes imperative so as to reduce or totally eradicate all infections associated with Enterococcus sp bacteria.

Kudos to you,Dr Ian Singleton for this discovery and also for the recommendations highlighted. For now, i strongly feel ( or suggest) that the usage of ozone for preservation of fruits and vegetables should be restricted possibly for industrial or commercial purposes only. This is because the local farmers may not be able to administer it in the required concentrations ;unlike in the industries where effective monitoring could be done by the quality-control personnels.Effort should also be made to ensure or confirm that ozone does not have any adverse effect on the genetic make-up and the nutritive values of these fruits and vegetables.

I have read several news regarding deadly superbugs. The bacteria can be transmitted from animals to humans. Headlines of superbugs are always scary. Some of the newest headlines make it sound like an absolute crisis is occurring in California. Hand washing can control the Carbapenem-resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae bug. Regardless of the danger of the bug, not all hospitals are proving compliant with hand-washing protocols that would control it.

This is indeed a great discovery. The usefulness of a virophage can not be overemphasized.It can be of tremendous use in curbing the menace of viral pathogenic diseases in both plant and animals throughout the world.More research is still needed by marine microbiologists or virologists to identify and possibly characterize as many virophages as possible. Their physiology ,biochemistry and metabolism should also be researched into.

James,
Thanks for watching the video and commenting. I agree, no more batteries would be awesome! Perhaps in the future we'll all have small tanks in our homes recharging mini fuel cells that power our homes. An aquarium that works for us

Hello, contact Vincent Racaniello here about the use of images that have been posted in the TWiP posts. If you use the search function on this site you will be able to find images with their specific copyright designations. In most cases (with the exception of images in the public domain) you should contact the author of the image for their usage in a book since it is ultimately for commercial purposes.

thanks for this great podcast
there are not many chance to hear about parasites
I'm currently writing a book about parasites in korea
and I wonder if I could use some of the images in this site for my book
thank you very much

Woops. I thought the video link would be more prominent. Here it is again:
"What is Life? A Non-Particle View"
LPAC Basement research team member Oyang Teng and 21st Century Science & Technology editor Laurence Hecht discuss the implications of Luc Montagnier's recent experiments demonstrating water-mediated, low-frequency electromagnetic emission from bacterial and viral DNA. Preceding the discussion is a 10-minute animated segment on Montagnier's experiments.

I believe consumers will be very resistant to the idea of genetically modified probiotic bacteria. They may well have additional benefits that we can exploit but because probiotics are marketed as a health supplement, my feeling is that there will be a reluctance on the part of the consumer.
Probiotic cheese, for instance, has met with some resistance.
On the other hand, if someone is desperate enough with their symptoms then they just might overlook the modified aspect. Be interesting to see.

I am very new to microbiology and when I stumbled on to this site it has made me very interested. I am looking forward to the next podcast however could i suggest that maybe you could add a little segment for the beginners of microbiology? Like what is the difference between bacteria and viruses? How does microbes effect the treatment of a infection? If this is too basic for your site I understand. Serena.

I understand why the media loves these types of ichy stories, but the reality is that they are far more negative than positive.
First off this story suggests an incorrect message that folks that go shopping are at high risk of E. coli infection. That of course is nonsense.
Assuming that the microbiology is accurate, where might these fecal coliforms come from. The likelihood that 72 % of shoppers have E.coli on their hands is zero. Probably the E. coli comes from the aforementioned babies in buggy chairs and this is easily addressed with a little hand alcohol and some regular buggy cleaning.
So I am not so sure we should be celebrating or promoting these stories. Context is everything.

I think that Brian Malow is great and I have quoted him a lot on the european biotechnologist blog . I have also found another video which is funny yet makes (what I believe to be) a subtle political statement regarding the use of animals in scientific research. Check out Tofu mice: science for vegans

This is definitely not the first time that human genes are found in bacteria or vice versa: Trost et al have published two papers on this showing that ALL human proteins contain bacterial consensi,often of contiguous nonapeptides, and therefore genes (and therefore that bacteria contain human genes)
Bacterial peptides are intensively present throughout the human proteome Self/Nonself Trost et al, 2010
and No human protein is exempt from bacterial motifs. Not even one Self Nonself Trost et al, 2010b

This is definitely not the first time that human genes are found in bacteria or vice versa: Trost et al have published two papers on this showing that ALL human proteins contain bacterial consensi,often of contiguous nonapeptides, and therefore genes (and therefore that bacteria contain human genes)
Bacterial peptides are intensively present throughout the human proteome Self/Nonself
Trost et al, 2010at
and No human protein is exempt from bacterial motifs. Not even one Self Nonself Trost et al, 2010b

This is incredible. I wonder if this procedure will not be irritating to most people. Anyway , my suggestion is that the procedure should be subjected to serious peer-review . Also, care should be taken to avoid indiscriminate use of this procedure, especially in the less developed world. Until probably the World Health Organisation ( W H O) comes out with a blueprint or statement validating the use of this procedure ,serious caution should be exercised.

There are an unfortunate number of states listed here that received a grading of "F." It's interesting however to read why they got an "F." For instance, most cases reported in Arizona are caused by norovirus and are a result of recreation activities in the water.

Great discovery. This can be of help in extremely poor nations where access to modern diagnostic facilities may be scarce. I think more research is still needed to authenticate and prove that the rats can not transmit or spread this disease or other infections.

This actually reminds me more of a Napster of science than a wiki leaks of science because what's being distributed here is not secret, undisclosed research or communication, it's published research behind paywalls. The site by the way is http://scienceleaks.blogspot.com/.

This looks like an excellent lab. But what about motivating young scientists to participate in science fairs? The New York Times has reported that funding for local science fairs has declined greatly. Please help us increase the public’s awareness of the poor state of science fair funding by voting yes for more funding for science fairs and education. If you’re really keen to help, please leave a comment with your institution and city showing your support. http://www.americanbiotechnologist.com/blog/science-fairs-struggling-survive/

Keep up the the good work. Production of better and more diverse chocolates will be so much appreciated considering the fact that the demands and the consumption of chocolates cut accross borders globally.

This answer only show Doctors in China can not solve the problem and give the right answer, Now thousands of people are sick and dying for this disease, they pain, they scare, they try to know the reason, microbe, retrovirus,mycoplasma viruses or other viruses. But they have got to give up for low medicine decide level.
Thanks god, I know little English, and I can tell you our pain caused by this disease in English! Kind Doctors, Kind people, Please help us to find the unknown virus, we need the true reason, we want to see people in the world live in good health! If you can help us kindly please contact us. you can send email to me: leo152@sina.com! Or call me: +86-15251314913.

We are sick, and puzzled by mystery HIV-like disease, while we can quietly sure to tell you it's not a sick in our mind!
we Fever, rash, blood, bowel, tongue white, lymph nodes, fatigue, night sweats, mouth ulcers, mouth rot, muscle pain, tinnitus, rhinitis, pharyngitis, red eyes, muscles jumping, ring joints, skin indentation and other symptoms, then the gradual emergence of weight loss, visceral pain, joint and bone deformation, subcutaneous nodules, skin thinning, skin ulcers, hand joints and heel ulceration and even organ failure and other symptoms.
From the beginning to we die, lots of AIDS-LIKE-diseases in our body, while doctor said we are afraid of AIDS, AND AIDS testing show we are not AIDS. Only our sick bodies know that they are telling a lie! China's mystery HIV-like disease may be all in the mind; it's really a voice from our doctors and Government! While a doctor with smart thinking will not trust it’s psychological illnesses, for so many people are sick caused by this disease!

And let us not forget that as a dissimilatory metal reducer, Shewanella has important applications in bioremediation--it can reduce chromium VI (liquid) and uranium VI (liquid) to their insoluble states.

This kind of headline is bigging up an everyday event. Currents flow all the time in many differing situations. The experiment here does not even correctly mimic the conditions undersea as far as temperature and pressure and ionic concentrarion, charge density and cspacitiance in the smoker walls etc.
The bolt from the blue idea although attractive has to give way to electromagneto hydodynamical explanations now with electro including ionic dynamics. A huge starter charge is trying to replicate the compound building usually done in and arround stars, and then possibly safely transported to an early molten earth in buckyball containers,making the final configurations a matter of time and cooling and elrctro magnetic variation.
As a process life would not be the first step but viruses and enzymes would, greatly simplifying the conformation building needed to create a reactive polymer. The electric charge we should be looking for is the charge transport in enzymes.

It is great that this is finally being acknowledged in the media. Since the North American Beekeeping Conference of Jan 2009 we (beekeepers who attended) have known all of this, and IT WORKS!
They are leaving out a major factor to the 3 tier bee colapse and that is the parasite known as the varroa mite. The varroa mite which came from China 42 yrs ago via Mexico is stage 1 of CCD the parasite lives off of the honeybee (litterally) and through the wound that the varroa mite causes that vectors in the Nosema Ceranae (the fungus) and this fungus (stage 2) eats a hole in the gut of the bees and vectors in the viruses (stage 3). Take 1 & 2 and you don't have to worry about 3.
What is unfortunate is that they did not acknowledge the lady scientist that discovered the Nosema Ceranae from the east coast Univ of Penn if I remember right.
Also bees don't get lost they get worn out because of the 3 tier issues.

Hi Andrew. We have actually just fixed this as of this weekend. Please let me know if you don't see any improvement. You can also try to unsubscribe and resubscribe in iTunes to see if that helps as well. Thanks for the feedback.

This has shown again the tremendous potential of microbes, especially the bacteria as bioremediation agent. It has saved millions of Dollars that would have been used to purchase chemicals dispersants and other depollution agents.

Everybody its Vincent Rakenalo(sorry if i mispelled)
This is twiv your weekly dose of virology.
I love listening to your podcast very much and love to thank for this. Dont we have podocats on bacteria...like twiv, twip?
Thank you
Ish,EVEREST

The XMRV virus is undoubtedly implicated in chronic fatigue. Its proteins are similar to those of the mitochondrial respiration and energy generating system, and antibodies to the virus will also target these important human proteins. Even if the virus has been successfully eliminated, antibodies will continue to encounter the human homologues, driving an autoimmune response that effectively knocks out the mitochondrial energy generating system, and makes you tired and fatigued.

Bacteria replicate at an astonishing rate and at each replication there is surely a chance of polymorphisms and mutations in the "progeny" just from DNA typing errors. Their success relates to their abilty to adapt and change, so perhaps it is not too surprising that good guys can change to bad, (or vice versa).

Some of the proteins that make up the XMRV virus closely ressemble human proteins that are involved in mitochondrial respiration and energy generation and they are also similar to proteins involved in prostate cancer.The viral proteins are immunogenic, and antibodies against the virus will also target the similar human proteins. Even if the immune system deals with and eliminates the virus, these antibodies will continue meeting the human proteins, sustaining an autoimmune response that keeps on targeting the energy and cancer related areas.
This may explain the controversy over the presence and absence of XMRV in different studies. The virus doesn't need to be there, it just needs to have been there.

Thanks for the kind words Suzanne!
Editing comments is a good idea. We have a host of new features rolling out soon, unfortunately that's not one of them
We'll keep it in mind for future updates.
BTW, we have vastly improved tags if you haven't noticed.

It would be nice if we could edit comments.....
Linkedin gives you 15 minutes or 20 minutes to make edits to your post on their groups pages.
I meant to say:
Where else can you get the most up-to-date collection of microbiology news all in one place? That's why I love this site.

Dear Prof. Cameasano and Team
Sorry for rating the article as 1 It should be 5
Iam on cramberry for the last six months after having post prostat operation`s UTI. The bacteria ubfortunatly is pseudomonas. But I (feel) good control on the infection or at least much less recurrency.
Being Prof/consultant in bacteriology we did some work on the (pilliation) of E.coli in relation to pH of the growth media.
Do you think that cranberry juice might affect (also) pilli of other bacteria?

These scientist are not smart enough! Introducing a mosquito to the wild and then waht? Do the researchers really think that the mosquitos can survive in the competition? How can this mosquitoes eradicate other current not proof malaria mosquitoes? Anyway, this is not the solution!

[b][/b]It is an old story and since mid sixties of the last century.
I joined in part as a PhD student at the university of Manchester UK 1970-1973.
As long as there are a commercial and scientific approches the first will always win by at least by fideling or overshadowing or delaying the approval of the scientific findings.
GOD HELP US.

Thanks so much to everybody involved in the making of ASM Live!
For all of us who couldn't make it to San Diego, it was great to be able to watch the interviews live -- and even to ask questions to the interviewees!
Please keep the good work.

Sounds very promising!
But, injecting bacteria and inhaling them are two totally different things. I am sure the injected dose is logs higher than what would be inhaled, especially after a 5 minute walk.
Also, the mice should generate a strong immune response to injected bacteria. What effect does that have, I wonder? Probably a big one.

This is an amazing story, and I'm looking forward to know how it ends. That is, I'm curious about the identity of the bacteria and, of course, the source of contamination -- and why the water companies didn't notice the problem...

Michael, there is a problem with your file and it isn't working. You can re-upload using the edit button when you are logged in. It's by the print and email buttons. Your file isn't a Keynote file is it? It needs to be a .ppt file.
I'm looking into it on the backend as well.

Thanks for sharing the great video Manuel. FYI - you can embed most videos on the site just by entering their source URL as the link you want to share - this works for YouTube, Scivee, Vimeo, Metacafe, Daily Motion, BigThink and a few more. Or, you can customize video by using code such this {youtube}VIDEOID{/youtube}. This code also works for 30 other video sites as well. I will add all the popular codes and more details to the FAQ this week for reference.

This is an incredibly frank and lucid discussion of the past and current vaccine program for malaria. Professor Sherman has devoted his research career to malaria and is unafraid to critically assess the current lack of balance in dealing with control of malaria.

FYI - You may have noticed on the front end under the Most Recent or Most Popular view you see a bit of code. This is due to a character limit we have for that view. This is a bug we will be looking into. In the mean time, I have edited your post to have the description come first so the code for the audio doesn't get cut off before the closing tag.

I think the target is educators and students, although researchers and the general public can find value in your podcast too. You distill down some complex papers in your episodes which is very helpful for getting people interested in the science and helps explain the importance of the results in way anyone can understand.

Thanks, Chris! I would like to put them out weekly, but I don't know if I have the time at this point. Maybe if I find a co-host that would be more feasible. I am glad you find it helpful. Out of curiosity, what do you think the target audience for this sort of podcast is/should be?

Jesse, I enjoy your podcast a lot. My only comment would be that it would be great if you could put them out once a week instead of every other week. I find this to be a great resource for keeping up with the latest research published. I usually listen to it on my commute to work. I think in time you will become even more comfortable on the mic, but that comes with experience and practice. Hope this helps.

Anecdote shows like this one add a human spin on the study of parasite and parasitism. I really enjoyed this week's show and would love to hear shows like this on a weekly basis. (I'd like to hear some TWiVs that are in the same vein as well.)
On a slightly unrelated I would also subscribe to a TWiB if it became available. Though I have no educational experience in the field of microbiology outside of what I have learned through the internet and in my high school biology courses I find your shows completely irresistible.
Your podcasts make me want to shift my undergraduate program from my generic liberal arts degree to hard science.

Good job Jason! I love how you don't try to sensationalize or purposely generate unrealistic concerns over microbes for these kinds of stories. In the US, when these types of clips air, they are often wrapped in alarmist language and are designed more for shock value than educational value.

This is a colossal waste of money, given that there are many free tools available on the web that enable social interaction among scientists. The funds would have been far better spent supporting the research of new scientists.

Finally got to sit down and listen to this one I loved it. I listen to a lot (and I mean a lot) of science podcasts and I have to say that TWiP is my new favorite. Yay tapeworms!
Hopefully the next one is coming sooner, rather than later???

Thanks Vincent for another interesting interview. If you are reading this and would like to know the latest on XMRV research please listen to this well rounded conversation on the topic. Stephen Goff does a great job on discussing the potential links between XMRV, prostate cancer and chronic fatigue syndrome.

I love how the fake April fools item makes it to the top of the most popular submissions on the site. And yes Ramy, PLoS is certainly one of the more innovative journals out there. But more and more are following their example. ASM's new mBio is a case in point. There is also Nature's Preceedings which is similar in spirit to the faux news release from AAAS.

I recall the Erol Flynn autobiography "My Wicked, Wicked Ways." He got into a confrontation in the Mediterranean while on a yacht and sustained a serious HUMAN bite. He almost lost his arm. Give me a (nonrabid) dog bite any day.

You can edit your own posts by clicking the pen and paper icon that appears to the right of Print and Email This on the same line as the title of your submission.
Links on front end submissions have been disabled for security reasons, but I will look into rethinking that idea.

Thanks Chris! Glad to know you liked it. I found out how to embed audio right after I posted this, but unfortunately I think I can't edit it. I'll do better next time. Do you know if there's any way to embed links?

Campylobacter, which can cause food poisoning; Clostridium, Corynebacterium, Klebsiella, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Stenotrophomonas maltophilia — all of which are associated with pneumonia and other infections; E. coli; and a number of Staphylococcus species that underlie serious hospital-associated infections.

Hey Jesse, thanks for launching BacteroFiles. I listened to it on my way to work this morning. I'm now a subscriber. By the way, you can embed a audio player in your MicrobeWorld submission by using the following code
{mp3remote}THE-URL-OF-YOUR-MP3-FILE{/mp3remote}
Make sure you are using the squirrelly-looking brackets.

It really doesn't sound like news to me. I believe parents put more time into teaching girls to be more clean than they do with boys. You should never forget to wash your hand when you go to the restroom even if you don't actually "go" or you just go in to use the mirror because there are lots of bacterias.

I wonder if this type of report is worded appropriately for the public. They already see scientists as "playing god". Creating three "terrifyingly virulent and powerful new strains" of flu will be difficult to communicate without causing alarm. It would be nice to see a sentence or two on how they were immediately destroyed or maybe how they were mutated so they cannot replicate. You get my meaning.
In light of how scientific information on vaccines and autism has been mishandled with the public, I hope we are learning to be sensitive to how information is presented to non-scientists.

Dr. Worobey mentioned routine male neonatal circumcision "overall reduces the transmission of the virus quite a lot." I think his information was mixed with promoting safer sex practices; like condom use which squash ANY insignificant benefit that routinely mutilating either sex before an age of conscious consent would bring.
If not having a foreskin had ANY benefit to mammals of ANY kind we would see more then two species of mammals without them.

I arrived at this page via Twitter:
"Could a virus have caused your back pain?: Antibiotics are being investigated as a new way to treat chronic lower ... http://bit.ly/b7LqoE"
virus + antibiotics?!
I didn't expect that from Microbe World.

I take slight issue with the statement that bacteria love o2. These bacteria are aerobes and therefore use oxygen in energy production, but oxygen is inherently toxic and there are so many obligate anaerobes that can't detoxify oxygen and can't grow in the presence of oxygen.

Thanks for the comment. According to the article (click "source" read) it has to do with the antibodies produced by the body in reaction to strep. These antibodies have been shown to still be present in the blood once strep has been cleared from our systems. And in animals they are seeing deposits of these antibodies left in the brain. Check out the article and search for the others, using keywords, that we have posted here on the site to get a more complete vision of what might be going on with strep and the mind.

"This study did not duplicate the rigorous scientific techniques used by WPI, the National Cancer Institute and the Cleveland Clinic, therefore it cannot be considered a replication study nor can the results claim to be anything other than a failure not just to detect XMRV, but also a failure to suggest meaningful results." http://www.wpinstitute.org/news/docs/WPI_Erlwein_010610.pdf

"This study did not duplicate the rigorous scientific techniques used by WPI, the National Cancer Institute and the Cleveland
Clinic, therefore it cannot be considered a replication study nor can the results claim to be anything other than a failure not just to detect XMRV, but also a failure to suggest meaningful
results."
http://www.wpinstitute.org/news/docs/WPI_Erlwein_010610.pdf

Very cool. Including Stanley Falkow there are three people in this first part who have also appeared on the Meet The Scientist podcast. Hear more about Jo Handelsman's work on episode 23 and
Abigail Salyers on episode 33. Listen to episode 9 to hear and in-depth interview with Stanley Falkow. You can find all of these interviews and more on the Meet the Scientist homepage.

Wow I could have gone without knowing this. It's a bit puzzling because I'm assuming the way the coliform bacteria gets on the fountain is via hand transmission yet I don't see a reason why the part of the fountain that delivers the soda would ever be touched.
I hope they start making the cleaning of fountain soda machines (at least a wipe down) a regular thing at fast food restaurants, 7 Elevens, etc.
Ignorance can be such bliss. I don't imagine enjoying a soda fountain in quite the same way again.

It is always so refreshing to hear a scientist say that they don't understand how something works, yet! Perhaps you should put the name of her new children's book in the printed section somewhere - Living Sunlight: How Plants Bring The Earth To Life

Thanks Jonathan. I appreciate it when scientists publicly comment on news stories like this to help frame the information accurately and within context of the data. Try this link as the one above is broken to read Jonathan's blog post about it.

Thanks for sharing this. The idea of eating a petri dish cookie seems a little dangerous to me, LOL. I also dug around on the site and found the sugar cookie recipe is from (Martha Stewart). I may try to make these over the weekend.

Susan,
You have definitely built an interesting collection of material. It looks as if you have designed a curriculum for an introductory microbiology course.
Thanks for taking the time to do this. It's definitely an interesting use case for the site and we appreciate your efforts.
Let me know if there are any features you think can be improved or would like implemented.
By the way, it would be great if you would make your profile public.
Chris

I'm a not so recent graduate student in microbiology at ISU and I am going to have to side with Chris on this. Depending on the ingredients and conditions that pizza is stored under it could potentially become unsafe to eat and I would not be willing to risk my reputation on that one. I am not sure if your statement about being a microbiology undergrad means that you are a freshman or if it means you are a recent graduate but you really should be more careful throwing around advice, remember that with great education comes great responsibility.
When I give food safety advice I tend to lean on the side of caution. I worked in the food industry for 4 years and our motto was the classic, "When in doubt throw it out." That said the Chef in this video goes to an extreme, most food microbiologists would never suggest throwing food out if it is properly stored after only one day.
When I discuss microbiology with people I try to emphasize that most bacteria are harmless but at the same time give them tips and strategies on how they can protect themselves and their families from the ones that can cause illness. I always try and determine the situation that person and their family is in when I do this and balance the information I give people because I do not want them to be scared but safe and informed.

Thanks for the great feedback David. I agree that throwing food out after one day in the fridge is a little extreme, but I feel it's better to be cautious when it comes to foodborne illness.
Please note that there is a disclaimer in the credits that points out all statements and opinions are not to be considered official statements of the Society.
In the next food-related video we do, we'll make sure to consider your well thought out observations.
As far as eating pizza that's been left out all night, I wouldn't touch it. But hey, that's me.
I myself have had a serious bout of foodborne illness that required hospitalization, so I am probably a little more wary than most folks.
The golden rule is that you shouldn't consume food that has been left out for more than two hours.

I'm a recent microbiologist undergrad from OSU. I have worked in the Food Industry for almost 3 years. I watched this video and felt it was teaching people to be overly cautions with food. They guy who said he throws food away after one day is crazy. I always tell my friends its OK to eat pizza that was left out over night. When you are considering food safety, you have to keep in mind what you are trying to avoid. There are only a small handful of microbes that will cause food-poisoning. And the only way for that pathogen to get in your food is if it's there in the first place. If you drop raw chicken on your pizza and leave it out overnight.....then yes you will probably get sick. Pathogens don't appear out of thin air, they have to be present in the first place, and depending on the conditions (temp, moisture, competing bacteria, etc..), variable time to grow to a high population. I don't want anyone to become a "germ-a-phoebe" after watching something that should be educational.

This is a great take on this very important issue. I think I am going to need to get a copy of that book and if it is as good as it seems from the video it'll be something I will recommend for all parents to read. And that little curly haired blond boy is totally adorable!

This is great! I love that they are considering a beneficial organism as there is so much focus on the "bad" bacteria that most people do not realize how important and beneficial bacteria are. I have encountered many people who do not even know that there are "good" bacteria and are shocked when I tell them that most bacteria are beneficial and essential to life both from a global perspective as well as for individual human beings.

What a wonderful idea. Unfortunately this article doesn't mention the proposed bacterium by name which is why I a. Giving this 3 stars. The cheese making microbe under consideration is Lactococcus lactis
What would you propose would be your State's microbe?

Mmm, yeah fair enough. If I were pouring EXACTLY 10mLs in each plate I'd probably get 100 plates from each liter, but there are little things like avoiding dropping the stir bar from the bottom that cut down on my productivity a little. Also, I kind of like thicker plates for now since I'm trying to encourage growth as much as possible...been getting fairly small, wimpy colonies recently :P
I did just start using a 2L flask with a very narrow (think chemistry-oriented) neck that is just perfect for precise pouring

Hey Jimmy this is a very cool, do-it-yourself, behind the scenes video!
I look forward to seeing more of this type of content. It's cool to see into your lab and get a personal perspective of your work.

No... the FDA is not trying to ban the sale of raw oysters. They are trying to make raw oysters safe by requiring them to be post harvest processed so that 15 or more individuals do not continue to die each year.
I don't understand why that is so hard to understand and I don't understand why articles such as this one is wrongly portraying what the FDA is trying to do. There is NO BAN proposed by the FDA, simply guidelines on the processing and sale of raw oysters.
My father died from eating raw oysters and he was not aware of that the risks of raw oysters included death from contracting a flesh eating bacteria through raw oysters. It is the FDA's responsibility to keep people safe.
'

Please feel free to pass this information along to anyone you think might be interested.
If you would like to post it to your own blog or website to share, please contact me asap at: stephaniepl@brandingbrand.com.

Echoing Jere Sanborn's comment (left on the articles originating page via link), you left out what matters most to me here, what can I do!? Changing to baths is not the solution so what can I do to protect myself better? A once a month bleach soak? Or this is coming via the water shooting into my face and therefore it will always really be present. If it is accumulating in the shower head then certainly a bleach soak would help a lot?
That said, I agree that we, as humans, have good natural defenses and if I worried about all of these type articles I'd go insane. I guess this one connects with me because I recently wondered about this on my own and actually performed a bleach soak of my shower head. It looks like I'll just be working that same procedure into my normal bathroom cleaning regime.

Yea no kidding if guys don't wash their hands that's just sick, I'm sorry but i would feel so grossed out if guy touched me after the bathroom trip and didn't wash his hands. I think that females wash their hands more frequently because they cook and clean and no one likes having sticky hands.

Handwashing is essential to wellness. It keeps the bad bacteria down and the good bacteria safe. I know everyone is using the alcohol based sanitizer, but that kills the good bacteria that you need to stay healthy.

Yuk! Of course it is the guys fault. They most times have to touch themselves when they use the restroom. Then if they don't wash their hands & touch everything else...so yuk! It is gross when women don't wash their hands either but most times they are not touching themselves.
Sandra

Not only is there significant difference between strains but also in the host organisms (be they human or animal) that can also make it difficult to prove if a potentially probiotic organism is in fact health benefiting. Between the science being very behind in this area and the fear of bacteria/microbes/germs in the general public it can be very difficult working in this area as I do. Just try to explain to your mother that you are trying to incorporate bacteria originally isolated from fecal material into food for human consumption...

If your interested in learning why Public Health Officials are worried about Swine Flu I encourage you to explore flu simulation game that was s created by the head of Virology, Professor Ab Osterhaus and his colleagues at the Erasmus Medical Center in the Netherlands as part of an awareness campaign for H1N1. This game has it all. Microbiology, public policy and even goes so far as to explore the consequences of "throwing some money at the system". Enjoy, its addicting and what's more its accurate.

It would be great to get a good effective as well as safe adjuvant approved in the US. If it costs less than the vaccine itself there is a chance it could lower the costs of the vaccinations it is in by lowering the amount needed per patient.

Dr. Pace came to Iowa State as a guest speaker in our Interdepartmental Microbiology Program seminar last year and presented his findings on this topic and others. One area they have also tested with similar findings is heated indoor swimming pools. The seminar ends around 5:00pm and I normally attend a water aerobics class at 5:30pm that day of the week and so wore my bathing suit on under my clothes so I could walk to the gym after seminar. I found it funny attending a seminar discussing how heated indoor pools and shower heads (particularly older ones), tend to harbor all those different species of Mycobacteria and then going to do a fitness class in a heated indoor pool and taking a shower in an old locker room with obviously old shower heads right after. He gave a very good seminar, I am glad he agreed to accept our invitation to come out here.

That is so cool! My little sister is an artist and sometimes makes me microbiology themed pieces, I love them and the concept of the worlds of art and microbiology/science coming together. Keep up the great work Luke, and thanks for sharing this Chris.

I definitely believe that the traditional media dropped the ball on this big time! The new media is a problem too but to me the traditional media is worse because it is supposed to be credible. While many people are misinformed by new media there is also some knowledge that the internet does contain misinformation. With traditional media they have a reputation of being a factual source of information and I believe more people trust what they see or read from that source. More and more traditional media is failing, they are biased, they sensationalize stories to get ratings, and sometimes they blatantly lie (re: memo about former President Bush's national guard service). And they wonder why they are failing? When the only thing you have over the new media is credibility and you lose that credibility you have nothing.
I've made another comment on this site expressing concern over the crying wolf scenario. With each outbreak sensationalized and then turning out to not be the end of the world as we know it as the media spun it people get more and more desensitized. Influenza can be a very dangerous virus and we very well could see another exceptionally deadly strain form like the one in 1918. With things as they are we could see a much higher number of deaths because many people are not educated on how to protect themselves and may not realize the severity of the situation in time to get that education because they did not believe the media's crying wolf. Panic and fear may be great for ratings but they cause more harm than good in the real world.

Very well done, I will definitely be sending people this link. I really like the fact that he presented this information in a way that I feel people without a background in virology, immunology or related fields can understand it. He managed to express the importance of vaccination and disease prevention with the message that this virus is not something that people should panic over but rather keep an eye on and do what they can to prevent contracting and spreading it. I wish that this was the message sent from the beginning of this outbreak/pandemic, be concerned but don't panic.
I fear now and am seeing evidence that the way the media handled this and caused so much panic over a virus that obviously has not been the killer they were saying it was has set a precedence with the public and they are no longer as likely to take news of future outbreaks as seriously as they should in a classic "boy who cried wolf" scenario. We need to be able to inform the public about potentially dangerous diseases but not cause panic that would cause way more harm than good. Personally I feel the way the media over-sensationalized this outbreak is criminal and they should be held accountable for it.

Love the video, funny and definitely addresses a personal peeve of mine, but I have a really hard time believing that 4 out of 5 people actually wash their hands after leaving the restroom. Based on personal observation it would seem like a lot less. 3 out of 5 would have surprised me quite frankly. Although I bet at least two of the five don't come close to washing properly. The only other question I have is, have you called the number left at the end? What's with that? LOL.
Viral video (pun intended) is a great way to go with this subject however. There should be more like it to address other public health issues.

This is a great idea! Never too early to teach kids these important concepts. I believe we should teach them about good bacteria as well. Perhaps if we educate the next generation we can avoid some of the hysteria and myths that crop up every time there is a public health risk.

I downloaded this app for my iPhone to check it out. I have to say the web experience at HealthMap.org is much better. However, there is a message in the app's info section that they are struggling to meet higher than expected demand which has been resulting in slower performance.
The information about outbreaks is sourced from a variety of trusted news outlets and international reporting groups.
The fact that individuals can submit outbreaks is interesting as well, I am sure there is a vetting process for accuracy but there doesn't seem to be any related language in the submission disclaimer, other than HealthMap doesn't take responsibility for errors or inaccuracies in any submission - which is standard for end user submission sites/services.
The best feature, in my opinion, is the apps push notifications by disease type and your geo-location. I signed up for West Nile Virus and the more general category "foodborne illness", and there are plenty more to choose from.
Overall it's a fun app to check out, but I am not sure if I will use the app everyday - especially since it allows me to select the alerts I want.

The novel H1N1 flu strain, commonly known as swine flu, circling the globe has prompted people to take flu shots to protect themselves against seasonal flu. Flu shots are going to be in high demand this year, especially since this whole swine flu business began. Once again, the ability of the private market, through charity, has made it's ability to act quicker than government known again, as several companies are offering free flu shots, or a discount on them, to the uninsured and/or unemployed – Walgreens and CVS, the online pharmacy company, will be offering about $3 million worth of free shots. Rite Aid and Wal Mart are following suit. The shots offered will not counter the H1N1 virus. It's good to know someone is willing to offer free flu shots to those who otherwise would need instant cash loans to get one.

This is the second of Dr. Falkow's excellent lectures on Host-Pathogen Interactions. If you are interested in how microbes can trigger cancer this again is a must view. In this video Dr. Falkow presents our current understanding of the association of CagA, synthesized by some Helicobacter, can interact with the tight junctions of the eukarytoic cells resulting in changes in signaling and motility of those cells in a very approachable format.

If you are interested in the relationships between Microbes and humans, this is a great primer on this subject. Dr. Falkow presents outstanding overview of this complex topic. This is a must view for anyone interested in this subject.

As someone who grew up with strep and still gets it every couple of years, I find this very interesting. And I can't say I'm with out my own OCD like behaviors...however I think most of us probably do.
Interesting to see where this research will goes and if there truly is a correlation between these disorders and the bacteria that causes strep.

Not being an expert in respirators, are there any options other than the N95 studied that offer protection against influenza? Or, in other words, what should a discerning consumer look for in a protective "surgical type" mask if they want to protect themselves from exposure or from exposing others?(I assume the masks work both ways?)

Being able to read an audience is an art form and takes a lot of experience, in my opinion. But that doesn't mean scientists shouldn't try. The more you communicate and learn from mistakes the better off you are for it.A lot of what this blog post talks about is the fear of ridicule from fellow scientists and the stigma of being "entertaining." It's unfortunate that people succumb to this peer pressure.Hopefully that attitude will become "sooooo 20th century." (There's my pop culture reference)

I was listening to Neil deGrasse Tyson talking about giving talks about science. And Dr. Tyson suggested part of figuring out the audience is being familiar with pop culture. Which I think is true when trying to get a general audience interested in science.

Caroline,
>Are you sure you uploaded a file for this? The download link is responding that the file is not found. You can easily remedy this by clicking the edit box to the right of your submission title and re-upload the file. If you are linking to an article, make sure you put the URL into the link field - not the upload field.
Thanks.

Thanks Prof. Schmidt for the answer! I'm currently reading Guns, Germs, & Steel (Jared Diamond) where the idea of human/animal close proximity habitation is put forth as the reason European explorers had already developed resistances to the diseases that so completely devastated indigenous New World peoples - seems like we're still seeing this in action.
- R. Meehan

Rory asks a great question. So what's the answer? The short one is crowding, the animals are living in very close proximity to people and the the infectious agents in the question have the ability to infect more than one species. Thus they spread easily amplifying their numbers and sometimes increase the ease with which they cause disease or its severity.
So as the animal (including people) and/or insects shed the infectious agent, whether it be virus, bacteria or fungi, if the infectious agent has the ability to infect more than one species it spread easily within the community. Thus as the population density of animals and people increases the likelihood of the agent expanding and infecting additional animals and people increases and thus the outbreak expands.
How can we protect ourselves today? Some of the the best solutions for the controlling the spread of infectious agents are simple and straight forward like washing your hands before interacting with food and your mucosal surfaces (eyes, nose, mouth) and by controlling the dispersal of the agent by coughing/sneezing into your shoulder. The other way, if available, is through immunization. The great disease that is no more, small pox, was eliminated from the face of the planet through vaccination.

Thanks for posting this Betsy. I know Lovley has been working with Geobacter for a long time now, perhaps 10 years. It's interesting to see that they are tinkering with the microbes genetic make up to make it more efficient and powerful.
I'm waiting for the day I can carry around a microbial fuel cell powered iPhone

This is a good tip that I guarantee is almost overlooked by most people, including myself! It's especially timely because more stores are pushing these bags on consumers by placing them in site at checkstands as well eliminating the option for plastic bags.
Other factors leading to an increase in use of these type bags are the push to become more green and a down economy.
I think just as important as washing the bags is the tip to keep meats and produce separate from all other products and each other. I also worry that the process of having to fill up the sink with water to wash them (as suggested) could cancel out the "green" factor. It's hard to win when it comes to being green, trade-offs make it very difficult but it's still worth trying.

i personally, dont like to wear a lab coat , untill unless you really need it , tradition of wearing lab coat all the time in work , as a professional identity need a rethink, but lab coat has its use only at certain time of lab work , or other spillage involed procedures in lab or clinic .

Hmm, maybe the fact that my doctor doesn't wear one is why I am so ornery but still alive! This really is a very valid concern, the white lab coat gives the illusion of clean but they are certainly not sterile and could definitely get contaminated without it showing. Probably best to leave the lab coats in the labs.

The concept that microbial populations resident in coal beds and other hydrocarbon deposits might be harnessed to create a sustainable source of natural gas was discovered long before Dr. Venter proclaimed such. In fact, the company that pioneered this work - employing populations of naturally occurring organisms resident in the coal beds -- is already actively producing gas from its initial pilot wells in the Powder River Basin of Wyoming and has generated and harvested to date approximately 1 billion cubic feet of "green" gas, enough to heat 16,000 homes for a year.
This company -- Denver-based Luca Technologies was the first to prove the real time generation of coal bed methane, starting from their founder's initial field observations in the Powder River Basin gas fields in 2001 that natural gas was likely being formed in real-time within the coal beds, rather than being tapped from ancient gas deposits. He and the company's co-founders decided to test their thesis in the lab, and indeed proved not only that there was a live population of anaerobic microbes (those living in oxygen-free environments) in the coals that were actively producing methane, but that methane production could be altered by the addition of certain nutrients or stopped by adding oxygen or other things that would kill the microorganisms. Luca Technologies was formed to further develop their ideas and apply them in the field, with the idea this could be the beginning of a whole new industry of natural gas farming.
Rather than trying to create the right population of microbes from scratch, as reports suggest Dr. Venter's group is doing, Luca is working with the bacterial populations that are resident naturally in the coals (which the company has isolated from a variety of locations and continues to study). These are complex populations of microbes, some of which directly digest the hydrocarbons while others digest their metabolic by products, but the end product by a group of microbes known as methanogens is natural gas.
Today Luca has proven its concept in the field and is actively cultivating its "Geobioreactors," while continuing to develop its technology. While the company's first focus has been coal bed methane, they are also studying the model of using microbial consortia from active "Geobioreactors" to cross inoculate currently inactive hydrocarbon deposits or even spent oil wells, where there is actually plenty of oil but it's no longer economically recoverable in that form using conventional technology.

A very interesting and promising potential treatment option! This is definitely a brilliant idea, taking something that is a problem for xenotransplantation and turning it into a solution for another health problem. I wonder if it could also be adapted for cancer treatment, find a unique marker on the cancerous cells to target.
And a little reminder, the "mission accomplished" speech was taken out of context, it was not in reference to the war as a whole, it was addressed to the Navy personnel on that particular ship that had completed their mission.

I haven't found anymore research that sheds light on introducing fungus into peppers to make them hotter. This is a relatively new discovery made by Dr. Tewksbury, a biologist at University of Washington. You can read a better synopsis of what led to this discovery here: http://www.sciencentral.com/video/2008/10/02/hot-chili-secret/ Perhaps since he is fascinated with the subject he is looking deeper into how to control the amount of hear produced by any given pepper.

The quote from the lead researcher in this story is very intriguing and definitely makes me want to read the paper -
""Scientists have been studying E. coli genes for many, many years and we thought we knew pretty much all there was to know - we certainly didn't expect to find any more genes that are essential for survival!
"Finding out that these genes are essential in E. coli and also appear in the genomes of other species tells us that they are very important indeed. In the case of one of the genes it is also found in the human genome, which makes it especially interesting. The mystery remains as to what they actually do, but whatever it is, it must be really crucial."

Thank you for posting this Fiona. What interesting to me about this post is that it kind of ties in to the New Scientist article on memristors and slime molds in terms of "anticipatory response." Here's the link.

As far as policy goes, I don't really feel like there should be a social networking policy. If anything the policy should be to make it very clear to the presenters that any information they share at a public conference is likely to be be shared outside the walls of that conference and that it's up to them to decide how much or how little they want to share.
If the goal is to release information to only the people in the room then nothing short of taking away all electronic devices and requiring attendees to sign an NDA is going to prevent information from leaving the room. At that point it just seems like your information isn't ready to be "shared."
I realize that there are complex issues surrounding the release of science information however the bottom line has to be cooperation and collaboration between conference presenters, organizers and attendees because anything less is more damaging than it's worth.

CJ, the source site for this video has a lot of great instructional and informational videos. The problem is that they are hard to find on there. The site itself is a virtual textbook that is part of Microbiology 102, an introductory laboratory course for non-majors at University of Wisconsin-Madison. Here is the home page

Just a comment as towards the "accent."
I'd say he sounds more like Igor rather than a vampire.
Other than that, it is a nice instructional video towards how to streak plate. I may link this back over to my old microbio professor, since he enjoys trying to find ways to integrate things like this into his lectures.

If one were taking this seriously it is just awful, if they are watching it for laughs then it is somewhat funny. I gave it a 2 because it made me laugh and I got to tease a Canadian microbiologist over it.

OK, I am going to throw out Elizabeth Hazen who discovered the the world’s first useful fungus-killing antibiotic known as Nystatin. The FDA approved its use in 1954. Nystatin royalties totaled $13.4 million before the patent expired in 1974. Hazen who worked with Rachel Brown on its development donated half of the proceeds to a non-profit group that subsidized scholarly research. The other half went to an educational program called the Brown-Hazen Fund which supported medicine and biology research for female scientists.

The quality of the video and content is good but I think I must be missing the inside joke because I have no idea why he is narrating in a vampire voice. While it does provide some comedy relief, the vampire laugh creeps me out lol. That said, I think if you wanted to learn how to streak an agar plate this would be a good video to view and if you want a good laugh, explain to people what you just watched, vampire voice included.

Great food safety guidelines, hope people follow them and stay healthy and happy over the holiday and summer! I think it is funny that FSIS's robot is named Karen, hope it doesn't confuse too many of my friends, I am their version of "Ask Karen" =)

LOL Yes, there is a valid concern but the notion of publishing a paper on it is humorous to me. However, if you put when this paper was originally published in 1967 into context, it was the dawn of the hippie movement. When beards and long hair are the popular fashion of the day, this paper probably seemed pertinent at the time.

I find this hilarious but it does bring up a valid concern, especially for those of us who come into contact with small children, elderly and other potentially compromised people. Glad I don't have to worry about the beard thing as a female, and I rarely have my hair down, even outside the lab.

These organisms certainly look interesting and I think DOE is wise to research them more. Ocean microbes are a treasure trove of the unknown. Craig Venter's Sorcerer II sea voyage where he collected buckets of ocean water from around the globe is currently being analyzed using metagenomics. Who knows what this data may uncover.

I still think it doesn't make sense to retire the term prokaryote. There are notable commonalities between Bacteria and Archaea, even though they are very divergent, and there are microbiologists studying both together. Its shorter to say "prokaryotes" instead of "Bacteria and Archaea", and this is the way this word is being used now.

Amazing video with great shots of Puerto Rico all in glorious high definition! Make sure to click on and watch the HD version as well. This is yet another informative MicrobeWorld video that addresses a popular and necessary topic, alternative fuels. The entire world is in need for alternatives to fossil fuels and this episode shows yet another cool approach that will not only help PR's fuel needs but their economy as well. Solving this issue will require a global solution and in this video we can see that amazing work is being done across the globe.

H1N1 on the rocks! We know that H1N1 is nothing new, in fact it's been around since 1918 and scientists say this might be the reason the current incarnation of the virus hasn't hit as hard as they once feared it would. Now we learn that the virus can be trapped under ice (insert Metallica music here) and perhaps be delivered back to humans via birds once thawed. This gives a whole new perspective on the importance of global warming and perhaps a whole new marketing campaign for the dangers of melting polar ice caps.

This is a landmark discovery LOL!!
"Everybody thinks that coffee causes bad breath," says Prof. Rosenberg, "and it's often true, because coffee, which has a dehydrating effect in the mouth, becomes potent when mixed with milk, and can ferment into smelly substances."
But not always. "Contrary to our expectations, we found some components in coffee that actually inhibit bad breath," explains Prof. Rosenberg. The findings were presented last month to members of the International Society for Breath Odor Research in Germany by Yael Gov, a researcher in Prof. Rosenberg's laboratory.
Apparently they still need to isolate the bacterial-inhibiting molecule.

I am sure there is some sort of microbial life down there although the article doesn't say. I'd say it's worthy of research, mainly to find out why life is so limited in a gyre and what, if any, sort of life it does support.

Open access debate was great. So important to make all that amazing content available to the people who could really use it but are least likely to afford it...students. Although I do realize that it's difficult because these journals are very expensive to produce so it's not as much of a no-brainer as it appears on the surface. That said, "open" is the future of media. Ad models/sponsorship will need to be embraced strongly.

Vincent and Allen, I loved the discussion on open access and the email's were fantastic. I think the one listener is correct in that you truly do walk the fine line between layman and researcher and some how manage to keep all interested and involved.

Wow, the biggest problem here is that clearly nobody really has the answers yet when it comes to probiotics and the scary thing is that it seems to be catching on like it's the next "fat free" craze. This isn't that much of a problem assuming that it's always safe to consume these products but I fear it's just a marketing label slapped on the outside of a package and unless you're a scientist, you are not likely to know one product from the next. Besides the potential health concerns it seems likely that many people will be paying more for products that don't have any real added value. Very interested in seeing where this all goes.

Here is a good pdf that deals a lot with the issue of home economics. Here is the link http://www.food.gov.uk/multimedia/pdfs/pafiover65.pdf.
The article shows that people over age 65 are less likely to identify use by dates as a factor in their decision to consume. I think the respondents probably did not grow up with use by dates and therefore are simply less likely to use this as an indicator of freshness.
But more likely their unwillingness to throw food out is due to the culture they grew up in. Wasting what appears to be perfectly good food in times of war and bad economies was most certainly never done unless the food was visibly tainted. I think those people 65 and older are just less likely to waste due to growing up in an era with different values. Overall and interesting study and I would like to see more of the data from the qualitative survey that was conducted. Numbers are nice but what the people actually tell you is often times more revealing.

This is an interesting study in part because I don't think it takes into account basic home economics and the recession. Prior to the market crash I was a stickler for "use by" dates, now that it's tougher to make ends meet I use the "nose" and "quick taste" test more often.
Sure, I may be flirting with disaster but at least I'll have the money for my co-pay

LOL, wow. I could not resist visiting this link. I had to play an actual game just to see if the poop I chose (you get several options of various types of feces) matched up to the Ostrich. Well it didn't but I was entertained and all I can say is that is some real interesting viral marketing lol.

I wonder if there is any evidence of this during the recent H1N1 (Swine Flu) scare. I'm guessing that despite the crazy media storm, the people who were truly informed (i.e. health care workers) were not scrambling for the doors.

Since visiting the Dogfish Head brewery in Rohobeth Beach, DE last year, Dogfish Head beers have become my favorite east coast based beers. I love tasting the array of brews they have to offer and it looks like we'll be getting a really unique beer from the past to try out.
Maybe I can send the guys over at Diggnation a sample and perhaps they'll give MicrobeWorld a shout out on the show! lol

This is potentially great news for the environment. I love reading about solutions to tough, long standing problems and being completely blown away when the answer comes out of left field like this. I mean sugar based spandex and e-coli steering wheels! I would have never guessed. I'm finding that microbiology has many of the answers to today's toughest problems, so cool.

Watched the whole thing. Really great info and anecdotes about the viral chip. Joe is an awesome speaker and funny to boot! Love the design plans to make your own DNA Array machine with big red button lol. I'm lucky to get the honor of editing interviews such as Dr. DeRisi's MTS interview with Merry Buckley.

This seems like some under reported news. I would expect someone caught smuggling vials of HIV and Ebola into the US would be labeled a terrorist right off the bat in this climate. There really isn't a lot of info to go off of in the article.

LOL, I may try this recipe at home. I wonder why you would add extra chicken wings to it - maybe for extra concentrated chicken broth taste? I like the recommendation that the unused cooked meat makes for great chicken parmesan.

I think this idea is definitely worth expounding upon, and could be especially useful if it has the critical mass of users/searches indexed.
Obviously an "Oprah" effect could lead to false positives but I think that sort of thing could be ferreted out rather easily. If can't be determined that there was a media or news effect, then it may be worth investigating.
However, there are other ways to do similar projects for different infectious diseases where you can vet the participants a little better than the entire public.

Turns out a few days later that the NY Times interviewed a researcher who debunks this story. Here's an excerpt:
It is essentially a blend of Eurasian swine flu and North American swine flu, but Western hemisphere strains have had an avian segment on the PB2 gene for at least 10 years and a human component on the PB1 gene since 1993, said Henry L. Niman, a biochemist who tracks flu mutations. “The original report is correct,” Dr. Niman said of the C.D.C.’s analysis. The rumors, he added in an e-mail message, stem from “someone who really doesn’t know how to analyze sequences (or is being misquoted.)”
Link: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/01/health/01origin.html?_r=1

I fixed it. With embedding video we do it ""automagically"" All you need to do is enter in the link to the page the video is on. However, it brings up a good question that may require a sentence of explanation on the submit page. Supported video sites include YouTube, SciVee.tv, DailyMotion, MetaCafe, DNAtube and afew more. Unfortunately CNN is not one of those sites. In cases like these you just have to click the source URL.

Informative story. However, most interesting are the maps suggesting the potential path(s) that the virus has taken leaving Mexico. The maps are provocative and in the weeks to come we will see if the map model proves true. Must read for all students interested in the epi of this new virus.